The Burlesque Astronomy Play celebrates the vibrant interplay between scientific and artistic exploration – with dance, abstract art, astronomy and onstage science magic. It’s focused on the challenges that women face when balancing career and femininity.

Andi’s been longing for the starry sky since she was a little girl. But NASA turned her down, again, because they want people who have other interests besides blasting into space.

So Andi is marooned on Earth, trapped at a university and feeling like she’s running out of time. When she stumbles into an Art department project that’s inspired by astronomy, she meets Cal, an artist – and steps into a world of abstract art and burlesque dance experiments where there are no clear answers. As Cal and Andi wrangle with connections between art and astrophysics, Andi starts her own experiments to see if it’s possible for a nerd girl to be sexy.

Fiona is an Astro 101 teacher who never got her PhD because she stopped to raise a family. Now her kids are into musicals and haiku and Fiona’s in a panic - googling experiments with eggs and generating electricity with pickles, trying desperately to get her kids more interested in science than in tap dance.

Andi is applying one more time to NASA, now that she’s got “other interests.” But when she finds out she’s pregnant, it’s clear that the biggest mystery is her own femininity – and whether motherhood will derail her career.